Capt. Lee Moak,
president of the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l, wrote to members of
Congress, asking them to oppose a request by the U.S. Export-Import Bank to
allow its lending limit to be extended beyond its current $100 billion limit in
a year-end omnibus bill. “The bank’s request should not be considered until a
comprehensive debate on the merits of the lending cap and, even more broadly, on
how the bank operates with respect to aircraft financing, can be held in
Congress,” said Moak.

The ALPA president added, “We believe that the bank should be operating with
more transparency, especially as its financing relates to aircraft transactions,
which make up approximately half of the bank’s lending capacity.”

This action follows the Association’s recent effort to bar the bank from
providing millions in U.S. taxpayer dollars to guarantee financing for Air India
to purchase a large number of aircraft. On November 29, ALPA was granted
permission to intervene in a lawsuit brought by Airlines for America, which
requested a U.S. District Court to enjoin the U.S. Export-Import Bank from
making financial guarantees for Air India for the purchase of new aircraft.

ALPA asserts that the bank’s loan-subsidy program harms
U.S. airlines and their workers by allowing foreign airlines like Air India to
acquire aircraft for substantially less than U.S. airlines would have to pay.

Supplementing Moak’s correspondence, uniformed ALPA pilots are on Capitol
Hill this week, educating legislators about the Air India deal and its
implications for U.S. taxpayers.